Rutherford schools sued by ex-student who says she was sexually assaulted by classmates

Rutherford's schools, Board of Education and top administrators are named in a civil suit brought by a former student who alleges she was forced to attend school alongside classmates who had sexually assaulted her at an off-campus party in 2014.

According to the suit, the district denied the then-student's request to transfer out of Rutherford High School and be home-schooled to avoid contact with the alleged attackers and harassment she says she suffered at the hands of their friends.

"We take what happened to her very seriously, and she’s still suffering from it," said her lawyer, Ari Jacobson.

The student, who has since graduated, stopped attending classes as a result of the denials, the suit states, and in turn was threatened by the district that it would take her truancy matter to juvenile court if she did not return.

The suit levels a constitutional rights violation against Superintendent Jack Hurley, Rutherford High School Principal Frank Morano and the Board of Education.

On Friday, Hurley said he, the board and the principal have not received notice of the complaint, and he was therefore unable to comment.

The district and its administrators are also accused of failure to provide a safe school environment, free from "harassment, intimidation and bullying."

The plaintiff, whose name appears in the civil complaint, was a high school student when she attended an unsupervised party at the home of a teenager from Saddle Brook, according to the suit. The suit alleges the plaintiff was drugged and sexually assaulted by the host and three teenagers from East Rutherford and Rutherford. The suit also alleges the four teens photographed the actions.

The photographs taken during the alleged attack, according to the suit, were shared online and via text messages. The incident, was "widely known to the school," according to the document.

The plaintiff reported the alleged attack, and the four defendants were charged with criminal sexual assault. The four pleaded guilty to reduced charges and "some" returned to Rutherford High School in September, along with the plaintiff.

Details of the criminal charges, plea deals and sentencing are sealed because the four co-defendants were minors at the time of the incident and the matter washandled by juvenile court.

"Well, tell it to her," Jacobson said of the plaintiff. "I'd imagine she wishes she could seal off those experiences as well."

The complaint states that one of the four was charged as an adult, but court administrators said that as a co-defendant, his records would be sealed along with the other three.

The parents of the alleged attackers are also named in the suit and charged with negligent supervision.